With energy efficiency and eco-friendliness becoming more popular and important around the world, everyone is looking to do their part. However, in addition to individuals, businesses are also trying to do their part. Unfortunately, many businesses have a long history of being quite wasteful. For example, many businesses waste paper, which is responsible for 26% of the total waste in landfills and this problem can be significantly reduced by simply using a document and PDF scanner and a tablet or a laptop.
But in addition to often wasting a lot of paper, businesses are also responsible for wasting a lot of energy. Thankfully, there are ways that businesses can quickly and easily reduce this energy waste, and this article is going to go over a few of them.
Change Out the Lighting
The first thing you should do in your fight against the overuse and wasting of energy and electricity is to change out the lighting. Many office buildings have dozens, if not hundreds, of lights that are on for most of the day. If you are still using old and outdated bulbs, you are using a lot more electricity than you need. Switching to LEDs is an easy and cost-effective solution.
Not only do LEDs use much less electricity than traditional incandescent bulbs, but they can also last 25 times longer. This ensures you don’t waste energy and money when you don’t need to. While being sure to choose the best electricity rates is important for lowering costs, so is using efficient light bulbs.
Manage Your Heating and Cooling More Efficiently
Depending on where your office is located, there will be several days every year where you will need to run either the air conditioning or the heat. However, many companies don’t do this efficiently as they could. While you shouldn’t eliminate the use of them, many companies use them more often (and for a longer period) than is needed. Also, instead of handling everything manually, consider getting a programmable thermostat. This will be able to automatically adjust the heating and cooling efforts in your office and ensure that they are only used when they are needed, and not any longer.
This eliminates any risk of the heating or cooling being forgotten about and running too long, as they will be turned off and on based on your predetermined instructions. Also, be sure to use other methods for heating and cooling such as closing and/or opening windows.
Upgrade or Replace Outdated Equipment
Using old equipment could be another major energy hog at your office. Many old pieces of tech like fax machines, desk phones, and several others are still used in offices all over the world. These often require a lot of electricity and energy to use and have since become outdated and replaced with more modern options. These modern options not only draw less power but work better and can even help boost office productivity. If you want to save energy, getting rid of these old pieces of equipment (in a responsible manner) is a great way to do it.
Also even if a piece of equipment isn’t completely outdated, there is likely a more modern solution that will be more efficient and waste less energy. For example, instead of outfitting every office or cubicle with a desktop computer, consider using a laptop. Laptops will use much less electricity than large and bulky desktops and take up much less space. Many of these will also offer better performance than older and slower computers. This is only one example of how a single upgrade to a piece of equipment or technology can drastically cut down energy use, while also benefiting the company in other ways.
Reducing energy waste at the office is not only good for the planet but can also save you money. By managing temperature better, adding efficient lighting, and upgrading or replacing equipment, you can ensure your office is as environmentally friendly as possible.
